


The World Didn’t End

by audi



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Dark Phoenix Spoilers, F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-07
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-04-12 05:40:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19125727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/audi/pseuds/audi
Summary: It wasn’t until he heard (knew) that Charles Xavier is in Genosha that the realization dawned upon him.He wanted to bash his head on the nearest hundred year old tree — he’s sure there’s at least five of them standing in the grounds, still.





	The World Didn’t End

**Author's Note:**

> SPOILERS FOR DARK PHOENIX
> 
> Also, the last minute of the movie was so worth it.

When the dust has settled, when he finally forgave himself, when he finally looked out of his self imposed isolation and saw the wreckage of Raven’s loss, it was all squared away.

 _Charles_ has squared it all away, and he could feel the bubbling anger at the Professor’s self-righteousness, like the older man couldn’t wait to clean up his own mess, as if the death of the woman Hank  _loves_ was just collateral —

He practically flew out of his room, when coherence of thought formed these whispers, ready to give Charles a piece of his mind, especially when they’ve just made up the night before, when he’s aired his grievances, his anger, his apologies, and finally his condolences, and stopped abruptly when he the front of the Professor’s office, and he heard the broken sobs, an aborted laughter that bordered on hysterical, and that was enough to still his simmering fury, turning it into the cool waters of the lake in the grounds in the beginning of Spring, like that day when Raven woke him up and made him watch the first blooms of spring. 

The Professor was never good at sharing his pain, or letting others share his burden, and Hank respected that. So he left the other man alone to mourn, instead leaning on the wall beside the oakwood doors, sliding down until he hit the floor. Just because Charles didn’t want to share his pain, does not mean Hank could just let the other man sink in it.

He closed his eyes, willing his mind to bring him to better times, to a smiling Raven, where hope was a bright future. 

When he opened his eyes, (or when he woke up), it was to a student poking his fangs. He had to blink to get his bearings straight, and when he looked up, it was to Scott, Ororo, and Kurt staring down at him in varying degrees of amusement (from Scott), disdain (from Ororo) and fascination (from Kurt). Hank sighed, resigning himself to an exhausting (comeback) day.

 

Barely half an hour after brushing his teeth, they found out the Professor was not in the premises. Hank had (practically literally) flown in a frenzy, readying the jet to fly back to Genosha and asking Erik to open a manhunt for the other man. If this was because of the government, if the government managed to go through all of their defense system, if the government managed to get Charles while Hank slept right outside his door —

He ran back to the Professor’s office, and there, smack dab in the middle of his oganized chaos-ed desk, was a letter with his name on the front.

_I’m fine, Hank. I just need a little time. I’m terribly sorry for leaving without telling you — it just got too much. Everything reminded me of my sister, and all the times I’ve failed her._

And that was that. He could hardly blame Charles for leaving, Hank himself had, afterall, done the very same, and he couldn’t even muster the right amount of anger at being left to manage the School, but one week into the Professor being gone with not a call that he’s fine made Hank take that aborted trip to the only other man in the world who has the power look for Charles Xavier, billionaire mutant extraordinaire.

“I’m halfway tempted to turn you away, Hank. The way you lot end up on my doorstep, what follows is generally death.” Erik greeted him, and while the words were sharp and jabbing, there was a small smile reflected in his clear eyes.

”Charles is gone,” the words tumbles out of his lips, and he takes a deep breath, feeling like a schoolboy again, like the same boy Charles and Erik found hidden in the CIA compound so many years (decades) ago. 

In retrospect, maybe he shouldn’t have started with those words, because barely a blink later all the metal in the island had collapsed. 

Erik took a step forward, deceptively calm even as the entire nation broke into chaos. “I may perhaps have misheard you, Hank,” he spat, even as he advanced, and Hank had to think why the other man was suddenly so  _angry._ “I thought you said  _Charles is gone?_ ”

Hank nodded slowly, “Yes...that is why I am here...?”

”Tell me, Beast, why I should not kill you,” and here an assortment of what should be innocuous metal floated around Hank, “When Charles is gone on your watch so soon after?”

It was then Hank understood,  _remembered_ , how undefinable the relationship of these two men were — how even when the world fell around them these two men stand tall and unbent, unbowed. It made them look like gods, for those who have never seen these two bleed and break for their beliefs, so very different from each other’s and yet all the same. 

At that point as Genosha shook at will of its master, Hank thought to himself that while their loss at Raven’s death and Jean’s demise was insurmountable, the world was lucky that it was not Charles that perished. Hank imagines what would have happened to this world had it been Charles’ blood that Erik saw on Jean’s shirt — he doubted that primordial power would ever stand a chance at the destruction this man would wreak on Earth.

There would have been nothing to rebuild from. 


End file.
